Free Bound to Me by Jeannette Medina, Karla Bostic, Stephanie White

had moved passed the full first name stage.
    He was comfortable calling me by my nickname so I thought the only thing I could do is make one up for him to. I knew it was childish, but what else is there for me to do? “I think you must have fallen out of the sky and hit your head dragon boy. There is no way in hell I am hitting you.”
    He came towards me with no warning what so ever and shoved me. “I guess it takes a person to hit you first, is that it?” and he kept on pushing me and I smacked his hands away before they could make contact again and we went back and forth like this for a while.
    “Cut that shit out Liam!” I said through gritted teeth.
    “No, I won’t stop until you hit me back. What’s the matter Ronnie are you scared? You’re helpless!” And he pushed me again and I stumbled back. I knew he was only taunting me to get some kind of reaction out of me, but I wouldn’t give it to him. He pushed me again and I stumble back another step. I noticed I was at least ten feet away from the edge. “Come on Veronica, stop acting like a fucking baby and hit back. Shit, push me back! Do something; you have to stop acting like you are worthless, or maybe you are.”
    That basically did it for me. I cocked my arm back, closed my hand into a tight fist and punched him right in the mouth. Damn that hurt and my knuckle was cut. “Ahh” I waved my hand in the air to take away the pain, and noticed the cut on his lip was sealing up on its own. I shoved him back and poked him in the chest so that he knew every word I was saying was directed at him. “Fuck you Liam! If I am acting like I am worthless it’s because you ‘The mighty black dragon’ won’t even fight for me. This whole training shit is over. I know how to throw a punch and I know how to fight.”
    He came closer to me and I don’t know if it’s out of habit or what, but I thought he was going to hit me. I didn’t realize we were so close to the edge. When I backed up two paces I went falling over the edge to my death. Liam reached out for me, but it was already too late. He grabbed nothing but air. I screamed till I was sure I left my lungs on a window sill somewhere.
    He instantly jumped off the building to, but while he was in the air, fire and smoke erupted from his body as he transformed into the massive black dragon. He was the same black, beautiful dragon from the falls. This time it wasn’t a dream and he was real. He was here. Liam’s claw plucked me right out of the air and he flew higher. I was tucked into his warm chest and I could hear his dragon heart beating at an irregular pace.
    ‘ I never would have hit you Veronica; all I wanted to do was touch you. I am sorry you thought otherwise. ‘ He was talking to me through my mind.
    “It’s okay, it’s a reflex. I didn’t realize that we were so close to the edge.” I say to him. ‘Look at you, you are finally soring high and free. You don’t ever have to worry about falling’ he says back.
    I looked around; really looked around and for the first time since he caught me I noticed that I am actually flying with a dragon. We were high above the clouds so we didn’t have to worry about being seen. “You’re wrong, I did fall.” I whispered and I knew he heard it because he could hear my thoughts.
    He looked down at me and I swear that there was no difference between the dragon and the human Liam.
    ‘ I’m so sorry, if it’s any consolation I fell to.’ He spoke back in my mind. I nestled closer to his chest and heard his heartbeat, and it was in sync with mine now.
    We were singing the same tune and it was music to my ears. He bobs and weaves in and out of clouds so that I could enjoy the sights of New York City. I could see lady liberty waving from below. We flew over Central park then the Empire state building.  The sun was starting to set slowly, turning day into night, it wasn’t dark yet but it would be soon. We didn’t have to worry about being seen, because